1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the steady rest art, and more particularly, to a novel and improved true centering steady rest. The invention is specifically concerned with a steady rest that is particularly adapted for use in conjunction with grinding machines, lathes, and similar machine tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the machine tool art to employ steady rests for rotatably supporting elongated cylinder workpieces for grinding machine operations and the like. A disadvantage of the prior art steady rests is that they are complex and expensive to make, and time consuming to adjust them to various size diameter workpieces. Many of the prior art steady rests employ roller structures for engaging a workpiece, and such roller structures are disadvantageous, since the rollers get in the way of a grinding wheel when smaller diameter workpieces are held in such roller structure type steady rests during a grinding operation. Examples of such disadvantageous prior art steady rests are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,213,574; 1,961,091; 2,160,378; 3,145,513; 3,234,829; 3,320,839; 3,330,074; 3,427,762; 3,535,963; 3,736,114; 4,195,448; and 4,205,492.